If you're a lover of nature, then you won't go far wrong if you visit Corfu. Corfu boasts some of the most beautiful flora and fauna found anywhere in the Ionian Islands. Corfu's wildlife, particularly the flora may well prove to be an unexpected source of fascination. In spring, the colour, scent and sheer variety of wild flowers, and the resulting wealth of insect life, are breath-taking. There are an estimated 6,000 species of flowering plant scattered throughout the Ionian Islands, many of them unique to the region; Britain by comparison has only 2,000. Even those people who only visit sunbathe and relax, will find that Corfu holds many unexpected pleasant surprises.

What you'll manage to see of Corfu flora will depend on when you go and where. Unlike Britain, many plants cease to flower when the weather gets too hot. The high summer in Corfu can be as damaging to plants as the cold winter in Northern Europe. If you really want to see wild flowers in the height of summer, then you're best off heading to the hills. Spring is probably the best time of all for flora. Spring arrives in the Ionian Islands around April, and the islands are awash with anemones, orchids and rockroses. These make way for brooms and chrysanthemums as the summer progresses, and are replaced by cyclamens and crocuses as the autumn bites.

If you head down to the seashore, you might discover the spectacular yellow-horned poppy growing on shingled banks, and sea stocks and Virginia stocks among the rocks behind the beach. Small pink campions, Silene colourata, can occasionally be spotted too.  Sand dunes are rare on Corfu, yet occasionally you can come across flat grazed areas behind the beach, that will prove to be fertile ground for orchids. Tamarisk trees often grow down to the shore, and there are frequent groves of Europe's largest grass, the giant calamus reed, to be spotted. These grasses can reach heights of 4 metres.

The low hillsides are a versatile habitat for plants. The trees and shrubs here are varied and beautiful, with colourful brooms flowering in early summer, followed by bushy rockroses. Scattered amongst the shrubs you may find the occasional Judas tree: this flowers on bare wood in the spring, and can be seen as a blaze of pink against the green hillsides. On the lower slopes you'll often come across aromatic herbs like sage, rosemary, thyme and lavender. On these gravelly slopes you'll also discover a wealth of orchids, anemones, grape hyacinths, irises and occasionally fritillaries if you're lucky. The orchids are extraordinary: some species like the Ophrys species imitate insect colouration in order to attract them for pollination. These orchids which have small and delicate flowers are a world away from the type of big, blousy orchids we're used to seeing in florists' shops in this country. The irises are also beautiful, particularly the species called Iris sisyrinchium, which only flowers in the afternoon. You can sit and set your watch by then as they open from around midday.

The mountains are best visited later in the season. The rocky, more mountainous areas are home to many familiar garden rock plants, such as aubretias, saxifrages and alyssums, as well as dwarf bellflowers and anemones. The high hills are also the place to see the remaining native coniferous and deciduous forests. In their woodland glades you'll be able to spot gentians, cyclamens, violets, and possibly some of the rarer dramatic lilies like the crimson Lilium heldrecheii.

So, the next time you visit this beautiful and verdant island don't be afraid to get out and about. The temptation of sitting by the pool at your Corfu holiday villa might be all too-tempting, but it's worth remembering that there's whole natural world out there that is just crying out to be explored.